Cellular phone use has become ubiquitous in the US and Europe. Use in developing nations is also exceptionally high. This is due the great utility of modern cell phones. They have improved greatly in size, weight, and battery life, while adding desirable features such as cameras, data storage, audio playback, video playback, text messaging and Internet access.
There came a point where cellular phones diminished in size such that they were too small for comfortable use of all the new features. Due to increased text use, larger or even full keyboards became desirable. Many users also wanted larger displays to better view pictures and video clips. These additional media uses put more energy demand on the battery. Thus to maintain required talk/standby time, phone manufactures have not been able to keep shrinking battery sizes, and in fact battery sizes have increased, especially in smart phones. Accordingly, contrary to previous trends, many types of cellular phones are trending toward getting bigger.
The result of the slight increases in cell phone size has been to derail the trend towards a more fashion-friendly phone format, such as a pendant or a wrist watch format (although some wrist watch phones such as those inspired by the “Dick Tracy” comic book have been proposed). It may still be possible to create a very basic phone in those formats. However, many consumers do not to give up the modern features. As a result, at least for many people, the cellular telephone remains an item that is not always held, pocketed or kept close. This creates a problem, for example, when women in that their cell phone is in a purse and/or not available for immediate access in many situations, such as when dining out, or moving about within a relatively confined area, such as when at home. A frequent occurrence for many people (men or women) is that their phone will ring while they are driving and they can't get to their phone before it goes to voice mail. Another common experience is that a personal phone will be at an employee's desk while he/she is consulting with someone a couple of cubicles away, he/she gets a call that he/she never hears and doesn't know about until he/she checks his/her phone, maybe hours later. Similar problems can occur when, for example, a phone is left in a backpack or briefcase or is otherwise not out of reach, or when a person is in a meeting and has the phone silenced or put away.
Therefore, there is a real need for a device that would provide users with the ability to have cellular phone ease of use even when the phone is not readily accessible.